Since their previous album, progressive extreme metal band The Flight of Sleipnir have evidently been listening to a lot of Pink Floyd, as the textures and tones of ‘V’ are all layered around crystalline Gilmour-esque guitar lines. The abrasive tones and hammering riffs of blackened doom balance these passages out beautifully, the distantly-echoing shrieks and grinding guitars creating an unrelenting force to propel the beautiful melodies into the ears rather than letting them drift off into a daydream in the manner of many Floyd-influenced bands today.

ARCHAON, guitarist of Norway’s black metal troupe 1349, sat down with me before their gig at London’s Underworld on the 19th of November 2014, and we talked about craft beer, tour life, their new album Massive Cauldron Of Chaos, animal instruments and music in general.

Quality gigs were coming in thick and fast for black metal fans in London recently, and despite this one being another mid-week gig, it was quite well attended – 2/3 of the Underworld was filled with an audience that were pining for some fast and furious Norwegian black metal action. 1349 draw a rather eclectic crowd – from the young, enthusiastic black metal fan dressed to the nines, to the seasoned older black metal fan.